- Roma stroll past Udinese as fans protest De Rossi sacking
- Horschel outduels McIlroy to win PGA Championship play-off
- Audiences summon 'Beetlejuice' to top of N. America box office for third week
- Stones salvages point for Man City against 10-man Arsenal
- Egypt fears 'all out' regional war: foreign minister to AFP
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory, Stuttgart outclass Dortmund
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote: projections
- Olympic champion Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Horschel's eagle beats McIlroy in PGA Championship play-off
- Mourners at commander's funeral express loyalty to Hezbollah
- Norris hails his 'mega' McLaren after dominant win at Singapore
- Monaco beat Le Havre to join PSG at the top of Ligue 1
- Scholz's party narrowly leads far-right AfD in east German state vote: exit polls
- New leftist president vows to 'rewrite Sri Lankan history'
- UN adopts pact to tackle volatile future for mankind
- Leclerc hails Ferrari fightback from torrid Singapore GP qualifying
- Belgian Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Sosa rescues point for Forest against Brighton
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory over Wolfsburg in seven-goal thriller
- Swiss voters reject environment, pensions reforms: official results
- No fairytale ending for Ricciardo after 13 years in Formula One
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to step back from the brink
- What is the UN's 'Pact for the Future'?
- Norris dominates Singapore Grand Prix to cut Verstappen's title lead
- From bullets to ballots: Sri Lanka's comrade president-elect
- McLaren's Lando Norris wins Singapore GP to narrow F1 title race
- UN adopts pact promising to build 'brighter future' for humanity
- Military escalation not in Israel's 'best interest': White House
- Marxist leader declared Sri Lanka's president-elect
- Classes resume at Bangladesh university at heart of protests
- 'Barely anyone left': Sudan's El-Fasher devastated by fighting
- 'Warrior' Joshua vows to fight on despite Dubois mauling
- Martin extends MotoGP lead as Bastianini wins at Misano and Bagnaia crashes out
- New French government instantly under pressure on multiple fronts
- Australia's Brown adds world title to Olympic time trial gold
- Russian strike on Ukraine's Kharkiv wounds 21
- UK's Starmer rules out austerity as Labour conference opens
- Swiss voters reject environment, pensions reforms: projected results
- Israel says 'landed blows' on Hezbollah as Lebanon violence intensifies
- Roma CEO steps down amid anger over club icon De Rossi's sacking
- Incoming French government under pressure on multiple fronts
- Hezbollah rockets strike near Israel's Haifa as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Haddad Maia roars back to beat Kasatkina in Korea Open final
- All-rounder Ashwin powers India to 280-run Test win over Bangladesh
- Failed Springbok 'gamble' sets up rugby championship decider
- Lebanon strikes send Israelis to shelters as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Far-right AfD eyes new win in east German state vote
- Tony Popovic set to become new Socceroos coach - reports
- All-round Ashwin powers India to big Test win over Bangladesh
- NZ chase 275 to win first Sri Lanka Test after Patel bags six
Canada's Arctic security moves to forefront after Russian invasion of Ukraine
After the West broke off cooperation with Russia in the Arctic over its invasion of Ukraine, Canada is now scrambling to fortify defenses of what its top general called "NATO's northern flank."
Canada's chief of the defense staff, General Wayne Eyre, has warned that "much more effort" is needed to bolster domestic security with a strong "focus on the north."
Defense Minister Anita Anand, who is planning an Arctic trip soon, similarly vowed significant new military spending that would narrow the gap in Canada's two-percent-of-GDP pledge to NATO (currently 1.39 percent).
"As we're taking a look at what is happening in Ukraine, we're also having a very close look at what else Russia is doing in the world, and the far north is a key area of concern," Eyre told a security conference in Ottawa earlier this month.
He noted that Russia in the past decade has "reoccupied formerly abandoned Cold War bases" in the region, and said "it's not inconceivable that our sovereignty may be challenged."
The general and others downplayed the likelihood of Russia landing troops in Canada's Arctic, citing the harsh climate and 1,000 miles of sea ice between the two. Norway, which shares a small land border with Russia, should be more concerned.
Both nations along with the United States and other NATO allies held military drills this month in the north -– including bomber interceptions, mine-sweeping in waters off Alaska and landing paratroopers in the snow.
All agree that North America's Arctic defenses -- like the Cold War-era radar surveillance program known as the North Warning System (NWS) -- need upgrading to track more modern and faster aircraft and missiles.
Anand promised "a robust package to modernize" the NWS and other continental defenses, which analysts estimate will cost tens of billions of dollars and includes ice breakers, warships and a contract for 88 new fighter jets to be decided this year.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, after telling a Montreal forum on Monday that Ottawa "must better equip our soldiers," noted Germany's 100 billion euros ($112 billion) spending spree to modernise its armed forces in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- 'Head in the snow' -
According to Arctic expert Michael Byers at the University of British Columbia, defense spending has long been a third rail of Canadian politics.
Ottawa, he explained, "didn't feel any urgency" after the Cold War ended, which may have been justified "if you don't think that a nuclear armed power is going to invade a significant democracy."
Robert Huebert of the University of Calgary's Arctic Institute called it a "stick your head in the snow attitude."
But Russia's militarization of the Arctic and claims last year to parts of the resources-rich north that overlap with Canada and Denmark have pushed Arctic sovereignty to the forefront.
Byers opined that a troop invasion of the Canadian Arctic would be "completely irrational for Russia," noting that "it's a really hostile environment" and "a long way from Russia."
NATO, he said, should be more concerned about the large Russian navy presence in the Arctic, including the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines stationed in Murmansk, close to Russia's border with Norway.
"The threat is in Europe right now. It's not here," he said.
Huebert, however, said that along with using new hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, Russia has returned to "Cold War behaviours" such as air and sea incursions in "the sovereign waters of all northern states," including Canada's far north.
Earlier this month Canada, the United States, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland announced they would boycott meetings of the Arctic Council, which is currently chaired by Russia.
The Canadian Coast Guard has also stopped cooperating with Russia through the Arctic Coast Guard Forum.
University of Ottawa professor Mathieu Landriault suggested that the war in Ukraine has made Canadians more consenting to increased military spending to counter "a more aggressive Russia."
Going forward, he expects to see "two Arctics:" One where Russia collaborates with China to tap undersea energy and mineral resources and develop the Northern Sea Route for shipping, "and the seven others wanting nothing to do with Russia and cooperating amongst themselves."
That could lead to weaker overall environmental protections in the north, he said, and split indigenous populations with cultural and economic ties across Arctic borders such as the Saami in Scandinavia and Russia's Kola Peninsula.
"This will hurt them," he said.
C.Meier--BTB